South West Slammers: Men’s coach Shane Goff expecting big things from imports Buay Tuach and Alex Holcombe

South West Slammers men’s coach Shane Goff is expecting big things from the club’s imports for this season, saying returning star Buay Tuach had gone to a new level and recruit Alex Holcombe would play a critical role. An electrifying athlete, Tuach is back for his third year with the club after averaging 21.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game last season and will be looking to continue a strong finish to the year where he dropped more than 30 points in three of the final five games. Goff said Holcombe, who has professional experience in Kazakhstan and Montenegro, would fill the void left by last season’s import Ben Stevens, who has opted to head for Europe. “He’s a big body that will play close to the rim,” he said. “Hopefully he can nullify the other centre and pull some rebounds down. I think we’ll be able to judge his games by the number of rebounds he gets for us. “Buay’s been training at another level. Once the games start, he’ll be one to watch, for sure.” Of the club’s local crop, Goff pointed to Pharell Keats as a player to watch, calling the dynamic guard a “fantastic young athlete” with a bright future ahead and saying the club was “lucky to have him on board”. “He’s extremely talented and got not many years ahead of him in this league,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what he can unleash as time goes on and he gets more confident.” After finishing 13th with a 4-18 record last season, Goff declined to put a specific number on the win total his side was chasing but said they had worked “extremely hard” over the course of the off-season. “We’ve got some good practice games in, we’ve got some minutes into everyone in the squad,” he said. “We’ve got a good bunch of young, talented athletes who are ready to give it a red-hot go.” Speaking to the Times earlier this month, new South West Slammers women’s coach Jason Chalk said his playing group had committed to changing the club’s culture after struggling through the 2023 season. The Slammers’ women’s outfit finished rock bottom of the NBL1 West ladder last season after a winless season with a percentage of just 51.4. However, Chalk is hoping to turn that around. “When we step on the court, we want to know we’ve done as much work or more than any other team,” he said. “The biggest thing that we want to do is look after the ball. Last year, we averaged way too many turnovers. “The offensive system we’re running is quite complicated, but it should alleviate some of the turnovers. “Defensively, we want to put as much pressure on the opposition as we can.”